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Cats Welcome USC, UCLA

This Week: One week after both the men and women swept UNLV and Wisconsin, Arizona swimming and diving opens conference dual meet season as USC and UCLA visit Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.Last year in Los Angeles, the Wildcats had mixed results against the two schools.The men and women were upset by the Trojans in 2008 while the women topped UCLA the next day.One could speculate the Cats were a little jet-lagged from their White House visit and tour two days earlier.Look for Arizona to be competing with added motivation as it looks to return the favor.

Last Time Out: Arizona swimming and diving kicked off its season by toppling both Wisconsin and UNLV last week.A few standout performers for the Cats included Carl Mickelson who won both the 100 and 200 breast events while Cory Chitwood won both backstroke competitions.On the women's side, Whitney Lopus swept the butterfly events while seniors Ana Agy and Annie Chandler both posted 'B' cut times. In the dive well, Ben Grado won the one-meter and three-meter titles while Ainsley Oliver finished runner-up in both on the women's side.

Scouting USC: Last week the USC women squeaked out a win over Oregon State, 132-116, in its Pac-10 opener.Katinka Hosszu led the Trojans with three wins on the day while Haley Anderson took the 500 free event.On the men's side, Zoltan Povazsay leads a Trojan contingent accompanied by Clement Lefert and Dillon Connolly.On the boards, Harrison Jones and Victoria Ishimatsu lead the USC divers.

Scouting UCLA: The UCLA women head to Arizona with a 3-1 record after posting wins over Washington State, UNLV and Utah. Their lone defeat came at the hands of BYU.Brittany Beauchan leads the team as a breaststroke swimmer. Beauchan has the teams only 'B' cut times thus far.In diving, Karina Silva is the Bruins top performer on the boards.

Tune up before Texas: The UA swimming team is training hard in preparation for the Texas Invitational next month in Austin.Every year Frank Busch and his staff target this meet so that they can achieve NCAA cut times.If all goes according to plan, many swimmers will swim their fastest of the fall season in Austin, pick up an automatic qualifying time, then prepare for the NCAA Championships in March.Last year at the Texas Invite, Lara Jackson shattered the 50 free record with a time of 21.33.

Arizona Diving Invitational:Arizona Diving will host its second annual Invitational next weekend at the new Kasser Family Pool.Last season saw a plethora of the nations top divers descend upon Tucson to compete at the state-of-the-art facility.Look for Ben Grado, Ainsley Oliver, Kristina Draper and Andy Guerra to defend their home turf and finish in the top three.